Out of the 12.40 lakh students, who took the Class 12 or intermediate examination conducted by the Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB), just 4.37 lakh or 35.25% managed to clear the board exam, officials said on Tuesday.

Last year, 11.55 lakh students appeared in the exam and 7.18 lakh or 62.19% cleared it.

Only 30.11% students cleared the Class 12 or intermediary science (ISc) exam. Last year, the pass percentage of ISc students was 67.06 and in 2015 89.32% students cleared the exam.

The pass percentage in humanities or IA was just a bit higher at 37.13% and in commerce or ICom 73.76% students passed. The pass percentage for IA was 56.73 and that for ICom was 80.87 in 2016.

Khushboo Kumari of Simultala Awasiya Vidyalaya in Jamui scored 86.2% to emerge as the topper in the science stream in which only 8.07% girls and 22.04% boys cleared the exam.

Ganesh Kumar of RNSJN Utkramit Madhya Vidyalaya in Samastipur became the topper in arts stream securing 82.6%. Priyanshu Jaiswal (81.6%) of Patna College of Commerce, Arts and Science - a constituent college under Magadh University - emerged as the commerce topper. He obtained 81.6% in ICom exam.

Principal secretary of education department RK Mahajan said while announcing the results that the lower success figures could be due to the strict measures adopted by the BSEB while conducting the exam and evaluating the answer sheets.

Mahajan asked the unsuccessful students not to be disappointed and try take the exams again with more sincerity.

BSEB chairperson Anand Kishor said online submission of examination forms, strict conduct, bar coding of answer sheets and finally computerised tabulation left no room for unfair practices and it could be the reason behind the dismal performance of the students.

In a first, the BSEB will provide Rs 1 lakh to the Class 12 toppers in all the three streams along with a laptop and a Kindle e-reader.

The second and third toppers will get Rs 75,000 and Rs 50,000 each along with the gadgets, while fourth and fifth rank holders will get Rs 10,000 each and a laptop.

Hit by reports of rampant cheating in 2015 and the intermediate toppers’ scandal a year later, the BSEB initiated reforms, including bar-coded answer books, and completed its board exams before the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE).